An electronic visual aid that displays on a Live View screen, also known as an electronic viewfinder, an enlargement of the portions of an image that are crisply in focus.

A mechanism for the shutter that is located directly in front of the image sensor, in the focal plane of the lens. It is made up of two curtains that block out all of the light and move across the focus plane with a little gap in between them when the shutter speed is set to a fast value. In order to expose the image sensor or film, light has to go through this slit. When using shutter speeds that are slower than the flash sync speed, one curtain will cross the focal plane to expose the entire sensor or frame of film, and then the second curtain will traverse the focal plane separately after the first curtain. This sort of shutter is frequently seen on digital single-lens reflex cameras.

The plane or surface upon which the image is focused when the photograph is taken by a camera. The photo spots of the CCD or CMOS image sensor are positioned in this plane of the image sensor.

A term used in optics to describe the distance between the optical center of a lens and the point at which it focuses light. In photography, the focal length of a lens or zoom setting is a measurement that determines the magnification and angle of view of that lens or setting. Millimeters are the standard unit of measurement for it. However, because the precise focal length that must be used in order to produce a specific field of view is going to be determined by the size of the imaging chip that is utilized by the camera in question, its utility as a means of comparing different lenses is going to be reduced as a result of this fact.

The illumination that is generated by strip light bulbs. Because the color balance can change significantly based on the type of tube, manual white balance settings typically include many different fluorescent settings. In some of the lighting systems used in studios, daylight-balanced fluorescent tubes are utilized.

A procedure that makes certain that the maximum output from the flash tube occurs at the same time as the shutter is fully open. Full synchronization can only be achieved with particular shutter rates on digital SLR cameras that are equipped with focal plane shutters.

A flash of artificial light that can either provide all of the illumination for a picture or just a portion of it. The majority of cameras are equipped with their own flash units, while others have a hotshoe that allows for the attachment of a separate flash unit or the use of an off-camera flash. Large, standalone flash units or strobes are typically used in studio work. These strobes are powered by mains power and are triggered by a flash sync connection or a radio signal. Flash durations typically range from 1/200 of a second to 1/4,000,000 of a second, and their color temperatures typically fall somewhere between 5,500 and 6,000 Kelvin.

Light that does not contribute to the formation of an image but still reaches the sensor and can result in undesired highlights or a softer image. Flare can be cut down to a minimum with the help of lens coatings and hoods. When shooting in the direction of a bright light source, flare can continue to be a challenge for photographers.

A concoction of chemicals that, once applied to negatives and prints that have been developed, renders them unaffected by exposure to light and makes them more stable.

A lens that does not have a changeable focal length and only has one angle of view available to use.

An extremely wide-angle lens that intentionally distorts the image in order to capture the largest possible portion of the scene. This phrase refers to lenses that have focal lengths of approximately 8-15 millimeters and are used on 35mm cameras.

A catch-all word that Adobe Photoshop uses to refer to a diverse collection of artistic effects and various other tools. The majority are in the form of special effects, such as those that give an image grain and texture. Some of them, like the sharpening filters, are more practical than the others.

Settings for cameras or picture editing software that seek to imitate the aesthetic of analog films.

A fill light is used in studio lighting to offer greater detail to regions that are dark or shadowy and to minimize the contrast between such areas and the rest of the scene.

A secondary source of light provided by a flash. On many cameras that include a built-in flash unit, a fill-flash capability is available as an optional extra. With it you may soften shadows on foreground subjects, helping to prevent difficulties with backlighting. Fill-in flash can also be utilized to enhance the colors and contrast of foreground subjects, and this is especially useful when the ambient lighting is lacking.

A relative phrase for an exposure that is shorter than average and is typically chosen to avoid the blur that would otherwise be caused by movement of the subject in the frame.

A lens that has a maximum aperture that is far larger than what is typically available for that particular focal length or zoom range. This enables the use of a faster shutter speed. Not only are fast lenses helpful when the available light is poor, but they can also be of tremendous assistance when trying to blur the backdrop more than is often possible.

A level of the ISO that makes the sensor more sensitive to light than normal, requiring a shorter exposure time than normal as a result. In low-light conditions, where longer shutter speeds would be inappropriate, fast settings might be of great assistance. One of the drawbacks is that as the ISO speed is increased, the grain-like noise that exists within the image becomes more noticeable.

The maximum aperture of the lens is denoted by the f-stop number, which is expressed as a fraction of the lens's focal length. It's possible that some zoom lenses will list both of their apertures, like f/5.6-f/4 for example. This indicates that as the lens is zoomed in, the maximum aperture of the lens will get increasingly smaller. The maximum aperture that may be achieved on the lens barrel can alternatively be described using a ratio, for example 1:4-5.6.

The lens's aperture setting can be adjusted. The number can be calculated by taking the focal length of the lens and dividing it by the diameter of the aperture. As a consequence of this, higher f-stop numbers correspond to aperture diameters that are more restricted. By using F-stop numbers, exposure settings for a particular scene can be represented without the need to know the focal length of the lens that was used to take the picture. The name "F-stop" originates from the Waterhouse stop, which consisted of a series of circular holes in strips of metal and "stopped" some of the light that was traveling through the lens. John Waterhouse (1806-1879) is credited with the invention of the system in 1858, but the hole sizes do not coincide with the present f-stop values.